MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — All three school systems in Madison County will benefit from $147 million in BRAC bonds over the next ten years.

In 2012 the Alabama Legislature modified a 2010 bill to provide bond funds to BRAC-impacted school systems in North Alabama for construction and renovation. The legislation was driven by findings in the Tennessee Valley Regional Growth Coordination Plan, a document prepared by the Chamber of Commerce for the Madison County Commission with funding from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment. The plan noted a lack of adequate school facilities to meet the demands of BRAC-related growth across the primary study area of Madison Limestone and Morgan Counties.

“This bill created $147 million available to the Huntsville City School System, the Madison School System and the Madison County School System,” says Madison Count commission chairman Dale Strong. “Madison County was able to secure $32 million of that, there was $23 million left on the table–dollar for dollar match; this is a once in a generation opportunity so we started talking with our BRAC Delegation, with our chamber of commerce understanding how critical this was for economic development not only for today but for the future.”

Education is a critical factor in economic development which is why the chamber of commerce works with all 3 school systems in Madison County to ensure our employers have a qualified workforce and that their employees have high quality schools for their children.

“The workforce component, the quality of our local schools comes up in every discussion,” says Executive Director of the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee, Lucia Cape. “So to be able to say we have 3 strong systems in Madison County is critical to economic development, it’s critical to future BRACs.

“We’re serving the people of this community right now, but we’re also preparing for the days ahead,” concluded Chairman Strong.

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